Jack Hallows discusses the Red’s new signing Naby Keïta and what Liverpool’s new number 8 will bring to the football club.
I don’t think I’ve been this excited for a midfield signing at Liverpool since… well, ever!
Liverpool’s new number 8 was one of Klopp’s top three targets last summer – Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk representing the other two – but RB Leipzig’s refusal to part with the Guinean midfielder under any circumstances looked to have blocked the road.
Not willing to miss out on Keïta’s signature, Michael Edwards devised a deal that would see the former Leipzig player remain in Germany for a further 12 months, joining Liverpool on July 1st, 2018.
This guaranteed Leipzig another year of Keïta and meant that they were no longer at the potential mercy of a £48m release clause that would become active in the player’s contract.
While the Reds would have preferred to bring him to the club last summer, he now arrives having undergone a further year of development and European football experience while also costing the club significantly less than the rumoured £80m offer made last July.
Enough about Keïta’s price tag, however, what is the Guinean going to bring to Liverpool?
Pressing, aggression, intelligence
If any midfielder in world football was almost a certainty to fit into a Jürgen Klopp side, it’s Naby Keïta.
Despite only being 23 years of age, the little Guinean is a master of reading the game and averaged over 1.5 interceptions per 90 last season, breaking up the play and feeding quick through balls to Leipzig’s pacy forwards with his partnership with Timo Werner particularly impressive.
Keïta is also brilliant in the tackle and while comparisons to Chelsea’s N’Golo Kanté are lazy at best, it’s one area in which the two are indeed similar.
Like Kanté, Keïta is of small build, standing at just 5’7 but his willingness to get stuck into opponents and attempt to bully them off the ball saw him win an average of 2.5 tackles per 90 minutes last season.
Of course, while Keïta’s aggression will be a welcome addition to a Liverpool midfield that has often been scorned for being too ‘timid,’ the Guinean will still need to temper and focus that aggression to avoid a repeat of his three sending offs for Leipzig last season.
Goals but not just for himself
While Keïta’s stats that revolve around winning the ball back are stellar, the Guinean is a lot more than an aggressive engine.
The former Leipzig midfielder scored 17 goals in 71 appearances during his two seasons in Germany, netting at a rate of just over one in four and will bring a welcome injection of goals and assists to Liverpool’s midfield.
While the likes of Oxlade-Chamberlain, Henderson, Wijnaldum and Milner are all fine players, the four of them scored a combined nine goals in all competitions last season.
Keïta did that himself.
His ability to combine with teammates to play through opposition defences is impressively equaled by his incredible close control and dribbling skill. Put the ball at his feet and ask him to run rings around an opposition defence and nine times out of ten, he’ll do it.
The Guinean’s arrival also sees the introduction of bounds of creativity to Klopp’s midfield options, something which arguably has been lacking since Philippe Coutinho’s January departure.
Keïta averaged 1.5 key passes per 90 in all competitions last season and registered a total of seven assists for his teammates – more than any of Liverpool’s midfield options aside from the Champions League record-breaking James Milner.
His aforementioned partnership with Timo Werner should have Liverpool fans frothing at the prospect of Keïta feeding through balls in behind defences for the pace of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané to run onto.
Where will he play?
It’s likely that despite Keïta predominantly featuring in a double pivot at RB Leipzig, Klopp will not be readily parting with his three in midfield system.
In that case, it’s likely that Keïta will slot into the ‘Wijnaldum role’ as one of the floating eights.
Fabinho and Jordan Henderson will be given the opportunity to push each other for the ‘6’ role, while the attempt to sign Nabil Fekir proves that Klopp hasn’t just brought in Keïta to replace Philippe Coutinho.
Playing Keïta in this role would also make best use of his traits, allowing him to operate in a box-to-box role where he can balance the defensive side of his game with the aggressive and creative side.
If the German does, however, look to play a system akin to the 4-2-2-2 that he employed at times last season, a double pivot of Keïta and Fabinho would be superb when it comes to running games, breaking up opposition play and dictating the tempo of matches.
Both players have an identity and their traits and style of play would compliment each other perfectly.
Fans will get a better look at a midfield partnership of Keïta and Fabinho when the Reds return for pre-season next month and boy, I cannot wait!
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